Episode 158: Crash
“Titan, commencing disengagement. Local strategic AI requesting operation re-computation. Accepted. Using Telek Port City base resources. Computation complete. Commenced new operation.”
＜Ringo＞: “192 fighters have reached the combat airspace! Transferring authority to Okeanos tactical AI!”
In the video, the Titan, its fuselage pierced by a wyvern’s breath, began a wide turn, spewing flames and smoke.
The point of penetration was in the center of the all-wing structure, slightly forward and to the left. It was a location that did not affect the computer clusters, which were the heart of the ship, but one of the two fusion reactors had sustained critical damage.
“Emergency shutdown of B-system fusion reactor initiated. Forced discharge of accumulated energy in progress.
Energy line overflow has damaged 12 main engines. Two sub-engines are unusable.
Left-side radar operating efficiency decreased. Armament operation rate is below 20%.
Using rocket boosters for emergency disengagement.”
To compensate for the acceleration lost due to engine damage, the Titan ignited the six solid-fuel rockets installed at the rear of the ship.
Of the 20 main plasma jet engines, 12 were damaged or completely destroyed.
Of the eight jet engines activated as backups, two were inoperable due to equipment malfunctions.
A single direct hit from a breath attack had left it suddenly battered and bruised.
And while the two-system fusion reactors had avoided a direct hit, one system was completely silenced because the surrounding equipment had been blown away.
“Situation?”
“Yes, Ma’am.
The Titan is transitioning to an escape trajectory.
A large-scale fire has broken out inside the ship, and firefighting operations are underway.
Flight is possible, but it is fifty-fifty whether we can reach the Flattala city suburban base.
The wyvern has begun to flee. It is decreasing altitude and increasing its flight speed.
Okeanos is intact.
Using the fighter groups under its command, it has resumed the attack.”
The wyvern, which had begun to descend, was rapidly increasing its flight speed.
It would probably exceed the speed of sound.
However, pursuing it were hypersonic missiles and armor-piercing rounds fired from the ventral railgun. Gaining a little speed wouldn’t be enough to escape.
“Okeanos, using maser cannon. Conducting pinpoint irradiation of the wyvern’s head.”
Furthermore, a high-output maser cannon was aimed at the sensory organs, presumably located on the head, and fired.
It was jamming the microwave band used by the wyvern.
To use a human analogy, it was like being suddenly illuminated by an ultra-powerful searchlight while sprinting at full speed.
Whether its equilibrium was disturbed or it was simply surprised was unknown, but the wyvern began to spin as it descended.
Missiles and a large number of armor-piercing rounds swarmed in.
As for the acceleration conversion by the defense membrane, there were already enough samples to perform the necessary predictive calculations.
The impact of the missiles and the barrage of armor-piercing rounds were converted into acceleration, but the direction of that acceleration was controlled by the local strategic AI with a hit rate of over 75%.
And at the calculated timing, the defense membrane lost its luster.
“Coil cannon, fired. Penetrated. Missile groups, confirming direct hits from each shell.”
Then, a large number of missiles and shells, carefully aimed, attacked the wyvern, whose defense membrane had disappeared.
The shells and missile explosions scraped off scales and blew them away.
“Multiple direct hits. Analyzing damage inflicted.”
The shell fired by the coil cannon penetrated from behind the neck to the opposite side.
In addition, many of the railgun shells, while not penetrating, had severely damaged the entire body.
The missiles also blew away scales and skin, and seemed to be damaging the internal organs beyond the subcutaneous muscle tissue.
“Wyvern, acceleration phenomenon disappeared. Decelerating due to air resistance.”
“D-Did we finally get it…?”
Rotating in an unnatural posture, the wyvern fell towards the ground. No further movement could be detected.
“Wyvern, confirming silence.”
＜Ringo＞: “Onee-sama, we have also confirmed the disappearance of the microwaves emitted by the wyvern. We judge that it is probably dead, or at least unconscious!”
“Unconscious… Well, the defense membrane doesn’t seem to be regenerating, and if it’s slammed into the ground at that falling speed, even a super-creature wouldn’t be able to withstand it…”
Because of friction with the atmosphere, the falling speed would not be that fast.
Even so, if it crashed into the ground at a speed of several hundred kilometers per hour, it would be impossible to withstand with a body structure that was only slightly strengthened.
＜Rain Crowin＞ might be able to withstand it, though.
＜Ringo＞: “Onee-sama, the Titan’s fire is out! The damage is severe, but it looks like we can make it to the base somehow!”
“I see, well done. I’m glad we didn’t have a maiden flight that ended in a crash, that would have been bad luck.”
The Gigantia unit exhibits unparalleled strength in ground suppression battles.
It can drop a large number of ground suppression aircraft from high altitude, and can also provide supporting fire with multiple gun emplacements.
Its flight speed exceeds 1,000 km/h, allowing it to quickly move to the necessary battlefield.
In addition, it can use the enormous energy generated by the fusion reactor to supply power to the surrounding units under its command.
Naturally, it also has the brain (AI) to control all of those units.
It was truly a flying fortress.
However, due to the nature of aerodynamic flight, it has the weakness of having thin armor.
This time, that weakness was hit directly.
Moreover, because it was at the front line, air cover was insufficient.
Rather, they had not anticipated that flying enemies would approach at all.
Even so, it was a fine play to have at least the minimum number of direct escort aircraft accompanying it.
There was no way to predict that a dragon would attack from a place hundreds of kilometers away.
“The suppression of the Afracia United Kingdom was supposed to be completed as planned, but that wyvern snatched it all away with just one attack…”
“Yes, Ma’am. We are very sorry. We did not anticipate it at all.”
That was true. Not even Commander (Eve), and certainly not Asahi, could have foreseen the wyvern.
It was impossible to blame ＜Ringo＞, and it hurt to see ＜Ringo＞ so dejected.
“Don’t worry, ＜Ringo＞. There’s nothing we can do about it. In this irrational (fantasy) world, anything can happen.”
Commander (Eve) comforted ＜Ringo＞ while checking the wide-area map.
All of the major cities of the Afracia United Kingdom had been secured.
The locations of all the duke-class individuals and their families had also been identified. They could be dealt with immediately if anything happened.
Almost all of the main military forces in each city had been suppressed.
A few resistance forces might form, but well, it wouldn’t be a problem.
After all, ＜Paraiso＞ had an excellent intelligence network.
“Now, all that’s left is the East Gate city. It’s practically occupied, but we’ll secure the influential people and strip them of their command authority. Finally, a notice to the Forest Country (Lebresta).”
“Yes, Ma’am. With this, Operation ＜What’s yours is mine＞ will be completed. It will be completed by sunset today.”
They had managed to pull it off.
Letting out a big sigh, Commander (Eve) sank into her chair.
“But really, you can’t let your guard down… And, just like Asahi said, a dragon really did appear.”
“Not at all, Onee-sama! But even Asahi didn’t expect it to come out at this timing!”
In the monitor, Asahi was dancing around while cheering.
She seemed to be excited because she would be able to obtain a monster (sample) that could be called a representative of the fantasy world, a dragon.
However, even while dancing, she continued to send out a large number of instructions via radio, and she was doing her job properly.
It wasn’t worth pointing out just because it was unsightly. Or rather, Commander (Onee-sama) was watching with a smile. ＜Ringo＞ remained silent.
Amidst all the commotion, the silver dragon crashed into the shallow layers of the Demon Forest without showing any signs of slowing down.